The survey of 2,000 adults revealed that 14% had to give up necessities like food and daily travel costs to pay for unexpected expenses, with a further 11% of respondents saying they had to give up holidays and seasonal events like Christmas to pay for unexpected expenses. The survey results highlighted that it takes the average Brit 4 months to pay off their unexpected expenses, however 8% of the UK are still paying after 10 months!

Cities with the highest just about managing households

The nationwide research revealed which areas of the UK are considering themselves to be ‘just about managing’.Coventry top the list, closely followed by Chelmsford. The full list can be seen below:

City

Households that consider themselves JAMS

Coventry

70%

Chelmsford

63%

Bristol

58%

Plymouth

58%

Gloucester

55%

Newcastle

53%

Sheffield

53%

Glasgow

51%

Oxford

50%

Southampton

50%

London

49%

Manchester

49%

Cambridge

48%

Aberdeen

47%

Belfast

47%

Wolverhampton

46%

Brighton and Hove

45%

Birmingham

44%

Portsmouth

44%

Leicester

43%

Worcester

43%

Norwich

42%

Liverpool

41%

Edinburgh

39%

Swansea

39%

Leeds

36%

Wrexham

33%

Cardiff

28%

Unexpected expenses troubling Brits

One of the biggest unexpected expenses troubling Brits are cars - costing £226 on average a year in unexpected costs. With 52% of respondents saying they’ve had at least one car related unexpected expense last year and 18% of respondents saying they knew about the issue but left it to get steadily worse.

After general household bills denting another £239 a year in unexpected costs, other expenses that might be smaller but add up throughout the year include: